ANA SOFIA ARAÚJO ALVES
Burned and Abused – Jewelry and Object Collection (2024)
Burned and Abused is a confrontation – a reckoning with history and a refusal to let silence bury the truth. This collection is born from rage and wounds that have been passed through generations, from the weight of stories that have been erased, rewritten or ignored. It speaks of power used to oppress, of bodies that have been controlled, condemned and discarded under the guise of faith.
Inspired by her own experiences and the historical brutality of witch trials and the Inquisition, her creations are not just jewelry; they are testimonies. They are relics of resistance, bearing the scars of those who came before us and the echoes of those who had no voice. Every shape, each texture, each polished and raw surface reflects the contradiction of survival – pain and beauty, violence and perseverance.
Silver, shaped and distorted, becomes a symbol of purity twisted by human hands. The collection carries a restless charge, confronting those who would rather forget. It does not seek acceptance – it demands recognition. It is not decoration, but a battle cry cast in metal, a visceral reminder that the past is never just the past.
Burned and Abused is not meant to be comfortable. It is meant to be remembered.
Material
polymer clay, copper, silver
Technique
polymer clay sculpting, electroforming, silver plating, 3D scanning, 3D printing, silver casting
Sofia Alves is a designer, jeweller, and artist whose work is a testament to resilience, heritage, and transformation. Born into a working-class family in Portugal, she learned early on that survival itself is an art. At the age of fourteen, she began in restaurants and bars, witnessing the rawness of human nature – experiences that shaped her as much as the tools she uses to create. Her journey in jewelry began at the renowned António Arroio Art School, where she mastered traditional goldsmithing and silversmithing, but it was only upon emigrating to England that she discovered her artistic defiance – intertwining heritage with modernity, and ancient techniques with contemporary narratives.
Today, as a graduate in Jewelry & Objects Design, she channels her experiences of displacement, struggle, and defiance into her work. Her jewelry is more than adornment; it is a language of contrasts – organic yet industrial, delicate yet forceful, timeless yet necessary. She shapes silver like a sculptor, giving form to emotions that often left unspoken. The metal’s reflective surface becomes a mirror to her past and a rebellious statement against the erasure of working-class and female voices in art.
Her jewerly does not seek silent admiration; it seeks to be felt. It carries the weight of history, the drama of baroque opulence, and the purity of raw craftsmanship. In a world obsessed with gold, Alves has chosen silver – a metal as resilient and untamed as the artist herself. With her work, she doesn't just create objects; she remembers, resists, and redefines.
Instagram: @_.carav._
